On September 21, the Israeli army invaded the Bedouin hamlet of Ein Samiya, in the rocky hills near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to demolish two houses there. The school, built with European aid and inaugurated in January, is also under threat: on August 10, an Israeli court ordered its destruction, arguing that it was built without a permit – Israel almost never issues one. for the Palestinians in Area C, the 60% of the West Bank which he totally controls. Immediately afterwards, European diplomats rushed to the scene to protest. « The continued practice of demolitions and evictions in Area C and occupied East Jerusalem is in violation of international humanitarian law and must end »said the representative of the European Union (EU), Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, in a statement accompanied by a beautiful group photo of the representatives, in a row under a blazing sun.
Israel regularly destroys structures financed by European taxpayers’ money, without ever being sanctioned. Between November 2020 and July 2021, Khirbet Humsa, a Bedouin hamlet in the northern Jordan Valley, was partially or completely demolished seven times by the Israeli army. Each time, the Europeans rebuilt, then the army came to put everything on the ground under the pretext that the hamlet is located on a firing zone. “About 200 structures have been destroyed in eight months”, recalls Christopher Holt, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, an alliance of five international NGOs, supported among others by the EU. The Palestinians eventually left, settling right next to Khirbet Humsa’s original location.
“Between 2017 and 2021, each year, we see an increase in the destruction of property”, says Christopher Holt. Since January, more than 650 structures where approximately 750 Palestinians lived have been demolished by Israel in the West Bank and Jerusalem; just over 13% was funded by donors, mostly European countries. Between the fines, the cost of the demolitions which the Palestinians must pay themselves and the consequences on access to education or health, the overall economic effect of the destruction is difficult to assess.
Request for compensation
Since 2000, the EU has granted more than 852 million euros in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, partly financing the needs of civilians as guaranteed by international law but which the Israeli occupation refuses to take care of. In 2014, the European countries gathered in the Council of the EU promise to “systematically protest against every case of demolition/confiscation affecting projects financed by the EU or by a Member State” and to engage in a dialogue with the Israelis on this subject. If no results are found, the EU will demand from Israel “that he restores or compensates for the demolished and/or confiscated property”. At the end of 2017, at the instigation of Belgium, eight Member States, including France, requested, in a letter, the reimbursement of more than 30,000 euros after the destruction and confiscation of equipment to produce solar energy. Since then, European countries have regularly demanded compensation, in vain.
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